The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. These advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed. In the course of integrated circuit evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased.
The fabrication of some types of ICs may require forming a III-V family layer on a substrate. These types of IC devices may include, as examples, light-emitting diode (LED) devices, radio frequency (RF) devices, and high power semiconductor devices. However, existing methods of forming semiconductor devices using the III-V family layer may generate dislocations or defects for different bandgap materials, which may lead to device performance shortcomings such as relaxed strain, incomplete film growth, and poor junction characteristics.
Therefore, while existing methods of forming III-V family layers have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect.